Laurel Hill/JEB Stuart Birthplace

Birthplace and childhood home of the famous Confederate cavalry general J.E.B. Stuart whose cavalry exploits earned him the nickname of the "eyes" of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Formerly known as Taylorville in honor of George Taylor, Stuart was renamed in honor of Jeb Stuart. Laurel Hill has hiking trails including a part of the old railroad bed known as the "Dinky"---Mount Airy & Eastern Railroad. There is also a slave cemetery on site. There are visual plaques to show you where the house and kitchen once stood as well as the Native American site. An annual Civil War Encampment is held there each year.

James Ewell Brown Stuart was born at his parent's home, Laurel Hill, in southwestern Patrick County, virginia on 2/6/1833. His father, Archibald Stuart, was a prominent local politician and lawyer. His mother, Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart, was a strict religious woman who inherited the farm from her grandfather William Letcher. Killed by pro-British Tories during the American Revolution, Letcher is buried nearby in the oldest marked grave in Patrick County. Young James spent his early years in the bosom of his family's 1500 acre farm, which is one half mile from the state line and 5 miles from Mt. Airy, NC. In 1848, James E. B. Stuart entered Emory and Henry College in Southwest VA. Appointed to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, in 1850, he graduated in 1854. Stuart spent 7 years in the US Cavalry rising to the rank of captain. In 1861, VA seceded from the union and "JEB" Stuart went with his native state. Rising from the command of the First Virginia Cavalry to the rank of major general, Stuart served under Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern VA commanding all the cavalry forces. Known for his flamboyant dress and actions, Stuart was a popular and famous officer. He was a highly competent soldier whose skills at reconnaissance and raiding were instrumental in the success of the confederate forces in the eastern theater. Stuart rode completely around the Army of the Potomac twice in 1862 and fought the largest cavalry battle in the history of the western hemisphere at Brandy Station in June 1863. Stuart was wounded on 5/11/1864, at the Battle of Yellow Tavern. He died the next day in Richmond and is buried there in Hollywood Cemetery.

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